Lawyer and human-rights activist Alice N’Kom appealed to President Paul Biya to halt the event: “These anti-gay proponents say they are protecting our ‘traditional values.’ But we want to tell them that hate and homophobia are not African values. We are bringing together people from across the continent to tell our country that pro-equality voices in Africa are strong.”

The date, August 21, has a special significance: It was on this day that 31-year-old student Narcisse Olivier Djomo Pokam was raped and murdered by a group of men that RJC claims were part of a “gay mafia.”